Home > Bangkok's Skytrain an example of the good infrastructure and services Thailand needs

Bangkok's Skytrain an example of the good infrastructure and services Thailand needs

Submitted by Pichaya Fitts
On Mon, 05/04/2009

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It takes me just a few minutes to get to my office roughly two kilometers away. Before the Skytrain came along, the very same journey could take anywhere between 15-45 minutes.

At 2:30 p.m. on a weekday, the Skytrain[2] in Bangkok, Thailand, was still pretty crowded. I squeezed myself into a small space near the doors, waiting to exit at the next stop. Suddenly, a cheery sound of music wafted through the air before a woman, standing not far from me, shouted a "Hello" into her tiny cellular phone.

"I'm on the train, two stops away from you," she told the caller. "Will get there in a heartbeat."

That got me thinking. Getting somewhere in a heartbeat was – at least until 1999 – a luxury no Bangkokian could afford (unless they owned a private helicopter). I remembered when this city's traffic jams topped the list of things that would come to mind when people thought of Bangkok. (The next down in that list would probably be air pollution, but that's a subject for a later discussion!).

Even now, the average vehicle speed in this city during the morning rush is roughly 18 kilometers (just over 10 miles) an hour. When I was working as a business reporter in the early 1990s, I had to allow between one and two hours for travel each time I had an appointment elsewhere in the city. Sitting idly in a taxi cab was a normal part of my everyday life then.

Things started to change dramatically after the Skytrain – what we call the elevated mass transit system here – was introduced eight years ago. It now takes me just a few minutes to get to my office from my apartment roughly two kilometers away. Before the Skytrain came along, the very same journey could take anywhere between 15-45 minutes. The Skytrain and the underground transit system we call MRT are making daily commutes by hundreds of thousand Bangkok residents much less stressful than in the past. I myself love being able to predict how long it will take me to get from Point A to Point B. It takes a lot of anxiety out of my everyday life.

Bangkok's Skytrain was introduced eight years ago, making transportation more reliable in a city known for its traffic jams.

When it comes to infrastructure development, Thailand has done very well compared with some other Southeast Asian neighbors. In fact, appropriate infrastructure, including access to power and water, has helped Thailand fuel rapid economic growth during the past three decades. Good infrastructure has made Thailand attractive to foreign investment, helped facilitate international trade, and improved the efficiency of everyday business activities. All of these led to more jobs, and more jobs led to more income for the poor. For some not-so-poor people, good infrastructure also helps them improve productivity or fulfill their lifestyles. In my line of work, staying connected with people around the globe and having easy access to public information are two very important elements. And I get to do this easily in Thailand, where high speed internet is no longer just luxury for a select few, unlike in some of the countries I had lived.

Access to infrastructure, however, is not a major issue here anymore, but instead it's the quality of infrastructure and services, according to a new World Bank report[3]. Over the last three decades, successive Thai governments have been able to provide basic infrastructure to meet the country's economic and social needs. But as a middle-income country, Thailand's infrastructure needs also became more complex than just roads, bridges, or water supply for commercial and public use. To be competitive with other countries, Thailand needs to improve the quality of its infrastructure and reduce the cost of services. One immediate concern is that the cost of logistics in Thailand is very high due to the country's high dependency on land transport and imported energy.

You can read more about that in Thailand Infrastructure Annual Report[3]. If you live in Thailand, some of what you will read there may ring the bell. If you live outside of Thailand, maybe you will have different opinions. Let me know what you think in the comments below. Even better, share pictures of good or bad infrastructure in Thailand, if you have one.